With this, a graphene engineering and innovation centre in Kerala will be setup to drive commercialisation of the advanced material and to empower emerging tech startups.
To recall, in January last year Digital University of Kerala (DUK), along with Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET) in Thrissur, launched India's first Graphene Innovation Centre.
With the total budget outlay of Rs 94.85 Crore, the Graphene program shall be implemented by Digital University Kerala (DUK) with joint funding from MeitY, Government of India and Government of Kerala, and industry partners.
Carborundum Pvt Limited joined as one of the main industry partners. Earlier in May, Carborundum signed an MoU with the DUK to set up a Centre of Excellence, where further research and development on Graphene is going on.
The upcoming engineering & innovation Centre dedicated to Graphene, will be set up as section 8 company (not for profit) and is named —‘India Graphene Engineering and Innovation Centre (I-GEIC)’.
The initial operations of I-GEIC will start from the recently opened facility of Government of Kerala at Digital Science Park in Thiruvananthapuram. It shall fill the gap between R&D and commercialization by providing a complete facility to startup and industry.
Along with the startup products developed, the technologies and products also developed at research and development centers like India Innovation Centre Graphene (IICG), setup at Makers village, Kochi shall be considered for commercialization.
The upcoming Graphene Centre will nurture the deep/emerging Graphene technology & innovation ecosystem that can guide, develop, implement, and support SMEs and startups to commercialize developed graphene technologies for scale adoption.
The MeitY Secretary mentioned that creation of a commercialization eco-system for graphene as an emerging technology would help India take a pole position in the world’s new material market.
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